Scuba diving generates up to $20 billion annually

(Press-News.org) An international study estimates that scuba diving contributes between $8.5 and $20.4 billion to the global economy each year, supporting up to 124,000 jobs across 170 countries, offering an economic incentive for marine conservation. 

The research, published today in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability (LINK TK) and co-authored by researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, provides the first comprehensive estimate of the diving industry's worldwide economic impact. 

The study is part of Atlas Aquatica, a project endorsed by the United Nations Ocean Decade. Led by Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, a marine biologist at Scripps Oceanography and co-author of the study, Atlas Aquatica aims to reveal the economic value of the diving industry and to help organize the diving sector so that it can have a political voice for conservation.

“Scuba diving is pretty unique because it makes you spend time underwater,” said Fabio Favoretto, who co-authored the study as coordinator of Atlas Aquatica and as a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps. “You can sail or surf above a dead ocean, but scuba divers notice if there are no fish — it’s really an activity that is dependent on the health of the system. That’s a positive for conservation because it makes divers allies.” 

Prior research has suggested that increased ocean conservation could increase dive revenue by attracting more divers who are willing to pay higher prices to encounter the more diverse and numerous sea life afforded by the added protections. Scuba divers’ preference for marine protected areas (MPAs) is also supported by data showing that roughly 70% of all marine dives currently occur within MPAs.

While ocean-based tourism is recognized as an economic force, the specific contribution of scuba diving at the global scale remained unknown until now. This absence of economic data made it challenging for ocean advocates to concretely cite scuba’s economic benefits to argue for conservation policies. 

When Aburto-Oropeza first started studying the economic impact of diving in 2019, he was focused on Mexico. In a study published in 2021, he and his co-authors found that dive tourism in Mexico generated $725 million annually, nearly as much as the entire fishing industry. 

The current study, supported by the National Geographic Society, expands that 2021 study to the entire globe. The team set out to answer a fundamental question: What is the global economic impact of marine dive tourism, and how does it contribute to ocean conservation and local communities?

To find answers, the researchers compiled a list of more than 11,500 dive operators across 170 countries using data from Google Maps and PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors), validating their database with local experts. They then conducted an online survey that netted responses from 425 businesses across 81 countries. 

Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor of Simon Fraser University, who led the study’s economic analysis, used the survey responses to calculate the money spent directly on diving activities and indirect spending such as hotels, food and transport by 9-14 million annual recreational divers worldwide. Using statistical modeling, the authors extrapolated the resulting figures to estimate global economic impact.

The analysis revealed that direct spending on diving activities generates between $900 million and $3.2 billion annually, and between $8.5 and $20.4 billion when including indirect spending on accommodations and local services. The study also delivered key findings about the scuba businesses and their workforce: 80% of employees are local or national residents. The survey also revealed dive operators' deep concern about environmental degradation, with most reporting negative changes at their dive sites over the past decade.

“We show that diving generates a lot of income, and it does this without degrading the environment like extractive industries such as fishing or mining,” said Aburto-Oropeza. “We hope that showing the scale of the economic impact from this activity will encourage policies that invest in diving by increasing marine protections.”

The study positions dive tourism as a model for the "Blue Economy" — showing how coastal communities can prosper while protecting their marine resources. 

"Unlike mass tourism operations that can harm local communities and marine environments, dive tourism, when managed well, can be economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable," said Anna Schuhbauer, lead study author and fisheries scientist at the University of British Columbia. "With a vested interest in healthy ecosystems and abundant marine life, dive operators are natural allies in conservation efforts."

The researchers recommend establishing standardized monitoring systems across the diving industry, formally including dive operators in marine management decisions and recognizing ecotourism as a central rather than peripheral component of sustainable ocean-based or “blue” economies. 

Moving forward, Aburto-Oropeza and his collaborators are supporting dive operators' efforts to organize into cooperatives that have a unified political voice through the Atlas Aquatica initiative. Atlas Aquatica is already supporting early pilot dive operator cooperatives in Mexico and Italy. 

In addition to Schuhbauer, Favoretto, Aburto-Oropeza and Cisneros-Montemayor, the study was co-authored by Terrance Wang of the University of Washington, Enric Sala of the National Geographic Society, Katherine Millage of UC Santa Barbara, Reniel Cabral of James Cook University, U. Rashid Sumaila of the University of British Columbia and the University of Pretoria, Astrid Hsu of Ørsted, Serena Lucrezi of North-West University, Mohammad Nasir Tighsazzadeh of Simon Fraser University, and Marisol Plascencia de La Cruz of Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y la Conservación.

 

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